


Lands of Always Winter

by DrHolland



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Antarctica, Drabble, F/M, Mentor/Protégé, Postdoc!Jon, Professor!Dany, Scientific Expedition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-09
Updated: 2017-09-09
Packaged: 2018-12-25 17:34:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12040830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrHolland/pseuds/DrHolland
Summary: Dr. Daenerys Targaryen is one of the top paleontologists of desert reptiles in the world. Dr. Jon Snow is a young hotshot postdoc whose expertise is Arctic expeditions. They come together in the Antarctic.(500th follower thanks drabble from my Jonerys Tumblr winter-comes-with-fire-and-blood. Inspired by a certain Instagram post by the lovely Emilia.)





	Lands of Always Winter

The idea of venturing very far outside Base Camp did not appeal to most intrepid young scientists. But Dr. Daenerys Targaryen’s last expedition had been in the Australian outback, and the clues in the fossils there had led her and her research team to this remote outpost in the Antarctic. Never mind that she’d never been somewhere that cold in her life; her research had long been focused on desert-dwelling reptiles. She was eager to find more evidence for a remote ancestor of contemporary mammals from the time before the ancient continent Gondwana broke up.

Dany prided herself on her team, said to be the brightest and best in paleontology. Unfortunately, her right hand, Jorah Mormont, had just been diagnosed with a rare form of skin cancer. Demanding that he return home, seek treatment, and rest, his exit left a place on her team. Phoning home, Dany told her assistant Missandei to hire the first decent prospect who applied.

Now she was curious about the new scientist who’d just joined. He’d just finished a postdoc at American U, although he was as English as she was. His doctorate was from some no-name state school in the Northern US. She wondered if he wasn’t good enough to get into Cambridge, and why she’d never heard of him before if they were the same age.

When they met in Los Angeles, just before their flight to McMurdo Base, Dany had been struck by how young Dr. Jon Snow was… and how handsome. His wire-rimmed glasses did little to obscure how attractive he was.

“Dr. Targaryen, I presume,” he said, holding out his hand. There was a teasing glint in his eyes that she didn’t quite understand… any more than she understood the backflip that her heart did in response.

Her chin lifted. “Mr. Snow,” she responded, keeping her arms folded.

“Excuse me,” said his friend who’d accompanied him. “He’s finished his doctorate. His proper title is —“

“A new postdoctoral member of the research team of Dr. Daenerys Targaryen, Center for Reptilian Paleontology, Stanford University,” Dany said shortly. “Thank you for coming so soon, Mr. Snow.”

Jon Snow’s defender (introduced as one Davos Seaworth) seemed upset. Dany didn’t care. Her business was with Jon, not with this odd dad-friend.

Perhaps... he was more than a friend, then?

Inwardly she shook herself out of it. Whether friend, foe, or something else, who this man was to Jon was nothing to her. Unlike many of her male counterparts in paleo (including her former advisor), Dany prided herself on keeping things strictly professional with her grad students, postdocs, and lab assistants.

Jon would be working for her, and that was all.

 

*

 

The Antarctic summer was the equivalent of winter back home, but it was much colder here than anywhere Dany had ever lived before. She’d trekked across deserts the world over, and yet this was a totally alien landscape…

“Did you know that Antarctica is the world’s driest desert?” said Jon suddenly.

They were scouting the dig site along with three of Dany’s newer grad students. Dany might be new to the tundra, but Jon wasn’t. Over the fortnight of their acquaintance, she heard and overheard Jon’s reluctant shares about growing up the son of an engineer who specialized in Arctic drilling rigs. He’d lived everywhere from Alaska to Siberia. Funnily enough, sunny California had been as alien to him as this frozen world was for her.

Dany stopped in her tracks. Whereas she was bundled up in her parka, the relentless wind had whipped Jon’s hair out of its tie. Black curls danced in the frigid breeze. She marveled at how comfortable he seemed…

…and how warm his eyes were, beneath the glasses.

“Actually, I’d forgotten,” she said, without the usual fire in his voice.

Jon only smiled knowingly.

 

*

 

Three weeks on, and the dig was progressing as well as could be expected. There was no sign of the telltale fossils yet, and with summer ending soon, Dany was not hopeful that her hunch would pay off.

“I was certain that the same fossils we found in Australia and Namibia would have been present all over Gondwanaland,” she told Jon that night over bowls of soup in the canteen. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“It does if they were crushed beneath a massive ice sheet for 20 million years,” was Jon’s response. “Ice is more destructive than fire.”

Dany’s chin lifted again. “Is it really? You’ve never seen the right kind of fire.”

“And you’ve never seen the right kind of ice.” He hesitated for a beat. “There is one possibility, though. One place where we might dig.”

“Oh?”

“I’ll need to run the simulation tonight. I’ll have something for you tomorrow… if you believe me.”

When she saw the teasing glint in his eyes again, she couldn’t help her answering smirk.

“You’d better get to work, Jon Snow.”

 

*

 

There was a rapping at Dany’s door at dawn. Stretching and yawning, she padded over to the door and opened it without asking about the identity of the knocker.

When she saw Jon’s startled face, she looked down.

Perhaps a flannel button down with bra and knickers weren’t the best attire to answer one’s ring? Especially when she’d clearly gotten heated during the night, and unbuttoned the buttons…

Closing her top, she looked at him. He was clearly flustered…

_If he was another kind of man, he’d push me back into the room, and close and lock the door…_

_And I’d let him do whatever he wanted with me. Professionalism be damned._

Just as Dany considered suggesting just that, Jon said:

“Um, I found something you might want to look at.”

“In your room?” Well. That’s another possibility.

“Not exactly. You’ll need your gear…”

 

*

 

It was the perfect morning for a hike over the snow toward the mountains. Dany found herself enjoying not only the company, but the fact that they were alone. It was early enough so that everyone begged off.

However, it wasn’t a hike that Jon had in mind. She followed him to one of the planes in the hangar…

“Wait just a minute! I thought we were walking.”

“Why walk when you can fly?”

Dany’s mouth quirked with amusement. “Why indeed?”

Jon couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her. “You get used to flying here and there in the tundra.”

“Same in the desert.”

He cracked a rare smile. “You don’t mean to tell me…”

“I’ve been flying since I was 14. Licensed since 18. So I guess the only question is… who gets the pilot’s seat, you or I?”

Jon licked his lips. Dany sincerely wish he wouldn’t do that… the flicker went straight to her center, and given that she was his supervisor, that wouldn’t do at all.

“Ladies first, Doc,” he teased, opening the plane’s door.

 

*

 

And so it happened that by noon, they were standing at the top of the world. Well, actually at the very bottom of it.

Jon had found the perfect place for the dig: a small area of the exposed continental shelf, near the Weddell Sea. But the wind-swept continental ice was one of the most beautiful things that Dany had ever seen.

Dany thrilled, looking at the landscape.  _This is why I became a field scientist._

But Jon seemed to be looking at her. Intensely. In ways that were not exactly appropriate for a postdoc.

Perhaps she should reprimand him, make it clear that nothing could happen between the two of them? But then again, she didn’t want to reprimand him. She wanted him to kiss her. She wanted to go back to that plane, head back to the base, and spend the night with him.

“Told you ice was better than fire,” he said very near her ear, voice low, breath hot, contrasting with the cold, howling winds.

Beneath her winter gear, Dany was totally aroused.

“Come on, let’s take a selfie,” she said, trying to lighten the mood.

He held the camera.

She took off her hood, made funny faces, and pointed.

He smirked.

Dany really thought that would be the end of it.

But the moment the picture was taken, and she turned toward him, the camera was back in her parka pocket, and she was in his arms...

“I want you, Dany.”

“This isn’t appropriate, Jon...”

He responded by kissing the very breath out of her.

“I  _want_  you,” he repeated.

“I’m supervising your postdoc…”

Another kiss, even more searing. And then:

“I…”

Tender kiss.

“Want.”

Short kiss, long kiss.

“You.”

And Dany melted in his arms.

 

*

 

The field of paleontology was not exactly scandalized when Drs. Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen married two years later. By that time, they were an open secret. It was known that they were the world’s foremost experts in reptile paleontology, who frequently published together in prestigious journals like Nature and Science. Few other scientists were as talented at finding fossils in extreme conditions as they were.

He even took her last name.

Whoever knew that the Lands of Always Winter could be so romantic?

**Author's Note:**

> This is my 500 followers modern AU drabble, [posted on Tumblr over the summer.](https://winter-comes-with-fire-and-blood.tumblr.com/post/163927475198/lands-of-always-winter-jon-x-daenerys-modern-au) As of right now, I have 2458 followers -- thank you!
> 
> This means that I owe you lovely people more Jonerys fics! My ask is open over on the winter-comes-with-fire-and-blood Tumblr -- I’ll take requests for:
> 
> 1000 followers
> 
> 1500 followers
> 
> 2000 followers
> 
> 2500 followers (once I reach that milestone)
> 
> [Send me a Jonerys or Kimilia pic, fanart, or situation, and I’ll write you a Jonerys drabble.](https://winter-comes-with-fire-and-blood.tumblr.com/ask) First come, first served! 
> 
> And in the meantime, look out for the update to my Jonerys multichaptered fic _[That Which Is Perfect Has Come](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11981616/chapters/27101628),_ which will be posted this weekend!


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